Warnings about Medications: Legal Responsibility

http://www.rmf.harvard.edu/files/documents/cricormf_coombes.pdf

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/359/5/521

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/tortsprof/2007/12/expansion-of-du.html

Does this mean a dramatic change in
prescribing practices?
It should not. Physicians already owe patients the duty to warn
them about medication side effects and restricted activities
(in particular, driving). Careful adherence to that duty—and
documentation that such warnings were presented and
understood—should be sufficient to protect the physician from
claims from a non-patient harmed by his or her patient.